Hi everybody this is Chris, for part 10 of Break Through Chinese Pronunciation, the video series that helps you to tune up and perfect your Mandarin Chinese pronunciation.

In this video we’re going to be looking at two different types of sounds in Mandarin.

The first are syllables that end in -ie. This is not pronounced -ee but -ee + e (like the ee in sneeze + the e in energy)

Also, the syllable Ye is just this vowel sound on its own. Just say the -ee + e in energy and you’re pretty much there..

The second type of sounds we are looking at are ones that end in -ian. This is not pronounced with an ‘a’ sound, like you might expect, but the letter ‘a’ here is pronounced like the e in energy that I mentioned already.

And in the syllable Yan, the ‘a’ is also pronounced as an ‘e’ in energy.